In today's do-it-yourself culture, it would be difficult to find a do-it-yourselfer who has not at some time taken a paintbrush in hand to paint or repaint some aspect of his dwelling or its contents. When the job is bigger than a simple touch-up task, paint is often purchased by the quart or the gallon. It is quite common for the painter to simply open the container, make sure the paint is well mixed and then dip the bristles of the paintbrush into the paint, moistening the tips of the bristles with paint. Once the lower end of the bristles of the brush is moistened with paint to a predetermined height, the paint is transferred from the brush bristles to a surface to be painted. Then the brush is re-dipped in the paint. Care is required so as not to re-dip the bristles into the paint to a higher level on the bristles than on the initial dip. Individuals who paint infrequently may not be fully aware that the paintbrush bristles in a region near the end of the bristles are designed to provide a wicking action of the paint up into the bristles to provide optimum delivery of paint from container-to brush-to surface-to-be-painted. When the bristles of the brush are inserted in the paint such that the designed paint carrying capacity of the bristles is exceeded, there is a great tendency for paint to drip from the brush's bristles. As the painting progresses, it is common for a painter to find himself discouraged by what seems to be slow progress. In order to speed up the painting, it is common to dip the bristles of the brush deeper into the paint only to discover that the moment the brush's bristles have been dipped past a point where a metal band secures the bristles to the handle of the brush, there is suddenly too much paint on the brush. When the painter is applying paint to a surface above his head and he attempts to carry too much paint on the brush, the result is often paint running back over the paintbrush handle and onto the fingers of his hand holding the brush. This over-dipping is most often brought on by the painter's zeal to get on with the task of getting the paint onto a surface. Unwittingly the painter has sabotaged the useful life of his paintbrush, for the moment the paintbrush is dipped in the paint to a point above where the bristles are secured to the brush by the metal band, the bristles that are encased in the metal band become moistened with paint and quickly wick paint from the bristles up into the metal band where the bristles are secured to the handle. To their dismay, almost all do-it-yourself painters have had this experience, when the painting is finished and the brush has been cleaned up for later use, a close look at the brush reveals that paint is entrapped between bristles beneath the metal band that secures the bristles to the brush handle. Diligent applications of a wire brush to the bristles to remove old paint from the brush bristles adjacent the metal band appear to be successful. At a later date when the paintbrush is used again, the user is dismayed to discover that bristles of the brush adjacent the metal, which appeared soft and flexible at the end of the brush cleaning process, are now quite stiff. The delivery of paint is nowhere as easy as it was during the first use of the brush. Most people will agree painting is a pleasant experience when they have in hand a high quality, expensive paintbrush, having top quality bristles that are shaped to deliver optimum amounts of paint to a surface to be painted. It does not take many painting experiences of the type described above for a budget minded do-it-yourselfer to skip buying an expensive brush that he will probably ruin, and buy the cheapest brush. This cheap brush will have inferior paint carrying and application performance, but it can be thrown away when the task is done. It is common for experienced painters who paint all day long to discover that as the day progresses, the accuracy of their brush dipping skill tends to falter as they move up and down ladders and the paint level in the container changes as paint is removed.
A paintbrush holder which allows a paintbrush to be incrementally lowered into a paint can as paint is removed from the can by means of the brush is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,864 ('864) to Earl I. Lakier issued Aug. 21, 1990. The '864 provides a plate structure that rests in a pivotal manner on a top edge of the can, whereas another end of the plate is adjustably secured to an opposing edge of the can. A paintbrush may be placed upon the plate structure and as the plate is adjustably pivoted the plate moves down into paint in the container so as to adjust the depth to which a brush's bristles may be adjustably lowered into the paint.
An inherent drawback in the paintbrush holder of the '864 resides in the requirement that the brush holder be removed completely from the paint can and thoroughly washed between uses. A flexible, ratchet-type tie, secured to the adjustable end of the plate and the edge of the can, provides an inherent mating structure that may easily become fouled by paint that drips from a paintbrush as the brush is removed from the brush holder and excess paint is wiped from the brush across a lip adjacent the ratchet tie.
By its very design, the paintbrush support apparatus of the '864 patent requires that between uses the brush rests on its side against the support plate. During these moments between uses, paint inadvertently dripped or wiped from the brushes onto the surface of the support plate comes into direct contact with the brush bristles adjacent the metal band, which allows paint to be drawn into the bristles under the metal band. The long-term effect of this inadvertent wicking of paint drawn into bristles under the metal band eventually reduces the useful life of the paintbrush.
The subject invention avoids all the drawbacks of the '864 patent by providing an elegantly simple apparatus that may be readily added to any paint container and retained therein, covered by a lid, for subsequent use.